In this section I give a layman’s view of exploration. What mapping is all about, how samples are taken, a little bit about assaying to get metal values and something about drilling. I hope my exploration friends will humour me and be patient. And speaking of my exploration friends...

Most exploration activity is undertaken by a species known as the prospector or geologist. It is becoming increasingly difficult to make a living at finding mineral deposits without formal training. Bragging in a flourishing manner and drinking lots of beer with confidence does not come without training and what are universities for if not to train. As with all professions there are a number of types of geologists. There are woosie ones who prefer to work in the comfort of the office and they tend to drift into the oil industry and often have eyes quite closely spaced together. There are those who get PhD’s, remain clean shaven and read Wordsworth and Keats in their tents at night. These guys usually work for the government and have the best field camps. Then there are the hard core mineral explorationists who think that spending 4 months at an altitude of 5000 meters in the Peruvian Andes is preferable to a month on the island of Mykonos. It is clearly irrational but this is where the romance comes in. Most people regale their grandchildren with compelling and traumatic stories of how their mitts were caught in the bus doors. Hard core explorationists talk knowingly about grizzly bear encounters on glaciers in the Yukon, hiding from Marxist terrorists in the Colombian jungle, climbing the snow capped peaks of the White Range in the Andes and sleeping in a yurt in Mongolia. There’s no life like it! So when we talk disparagingly of “bearded, flannel-clad ones”, in truth, our hats are off to the exploration geologists of the world. They tell cool stories which have a high probability of being mostly true - making these people unique indeed. They rank right up there with Bible translation missionaries on the Marco Polo scale of goofy things to do with your life.

Explorationists always have the neatest pictures. Unfortunately you have to look at a lot of close-ups of a pen or hand pick sitting on a rock before you get to the good ones. They also have really cool vests and rival fly fishermen for the number of neat things in their pockets; compasses, global positioning devices, waterproof paper, hand lenses, bottles of acid, expensive sun glasses, mosquito dope. If you are walking along some day and you come across a geologist in his vest ask him if he has a protractor. I will guarantee that he will have at least one protractor. Most of us have forgotten what a protractor is much less carry one around. Of such is the exploration geologist.

Exploration, like many endeavours, has become high tech in the passage of time. It sometimes involves hanging big metal cans from a helicopter or airplane and flying around and sometimes involves the use of explosives. These are very cool things. But mostly exploration involves walking around and looking at things - especially rock kinds of things. I can walk past a rock and not notice it and if it is brought to my attention I will say something very shrewd like, “Cool... a black rock!” But an exploration geologist will give you a 15 minute discourse on that rock. This knowledge of rocks is very impressive - the first time. After that it just gets aggravating when they go on and on. But your aggravation will never be enough to slow down a geologist in full flight. And beware when there are two or more of them around! Just think of what their symposiums must be like.. gracious.

But now it is time to talk about exploration. What follows next is a discussion of the logical steps in exploration; mapping, sampling, geophysics and drilling. Not all steps are followed all the time and sometimes the sequence changes but as a rule this is sort of what is supposed to happen. So follow the links in the order given and prepare to be enlightened! Well... maybe not.... But let’s talk for a minute about “minerals”. These are the elusive target after all.